NEWS LETTERVol. 12, No. 3 SECOND AIR DIVISION ASSOCIATION September 1974

"YOU DID NOT DIE IN VAIN""As I motored through London last

Saturday, on my way to the airport, I sawthe crowds in the streets and in TrafalgarSquare feeding the pigeons, photograph-ing or just viewing the scene.

There was hardly an Englishman insight!

Unthinkingly perhaps, those manyfriendly tourists were enjoying the fruitsof the labours of the U.S. 2nd AirDivision thirty years ago, and the free-dom paid for by the sacrifice of so many.

Then too, in the T.W.A. Jetsave thatbrought me to New York, if a count hadbeen taken I suspect that half the 180odd in the plane were British visiting, infreedom, daughters, cousins, uncles, auntsor, perhaps, just paying a friendly visit forthe first time to the country and peopleto whom we all owe so much. And so, todate, in an admittedly imperfect worldthe battles we fought and won togetherthirty years ago have brought benefits tomankind.

So it is with the unique MemorialLibrary at Norwich. Shining as a friendlybeacon to warn, to guide, to illuminateand to inform.

But beacons, whether they be forsailors or airmen, however soundly theybe built must be serviced and maintained.Old lamps renewed, reflectors polished,supplies of electricity continued.

Thomas C. Eaton (Photo by C'obin)

A Library also needs the same lovingcare if it is to fulfill the vision and toserve the purpose of its founders.

Since I spoke at last year's banquet,thanks to the kindness of Milt & HathyVeynar, Dal & Joanne Moran, Bill andHelen Denton and many others, I havetravelled hundreds of miles in the U.S.A.I have seen much and enjoyed it all.Jordan Uttal stayed with us in Norwichlast November. In April, Walter and JeanEdgeworth had a meal with us and in Mayand June came Bill & Hazel Robertie,Evelyn Cohen and Joe and JosephineWarth. As a result, although I leftEngland in 1941 for Singapore beforeyou came and most of you left Englandbefore I returned in the Autumn of 1945,in a very real sense I feel I am one of you.

We all certainly have a common pur-pose in the Memorial Room.

Much as I have enjoyed these experi-ences and the friendships which havegrown with them I know, with BillRobertie, that in coming and going onour lawful occasions we seek to servesomething nobler than ourselves. To en-courage and develop friendships betweenpeoples that can only come throughknowledge and understanding and byreading as well as travel.

Longfellow put it well when hewrote:—

"Not enio.vmeizt, and not sorrow,is our destined end or way,But to act, that each tomorrowfinds us farther than today."

Thus in all we have had to say and dothe beacon of that Memorial created 29years ago this year has been, and mustcontinue to be, our central purpose. Ingiving to the Memorial Library, in ourgeneration, the loving care and service itwill always need friendships will grow andgood will be done.

Above all we shall hand on to oursuccessors a light no less bright than whenit was first lit. And, when the greatre-union comes we will be able to say tothose who are remembered in the Roll ofHonor:—

You did not die in vain."

(ed. note: The above address was given byThomas C. Eaton, Vice Chairman of theMemorial Trust, at the reunion this yearin Wilmington. It moved us all.)

OPEN LETTER

Dear Mr. Moyer:Tom Eaton has sent me six cheques

totalling $2,407 — $2,085 for the CapitalFund and $322 for the purchase of booksand, in his letter, he goes on to say thatyour Association is aiming to raise byway of additional endowment the sum of$50,000 between now and 1980. I canonly say that I am absolutely over-whelmed by this generosity. It will makethe whole difference to the Trust andalleviate the fears that many of us hadthat inflation would so gnaw away thevalue of our funds that we would not beable to keep up the supply of up-to-datebooks to the Library.

I also understand from Tom's letterthat a great deal of this money has comeas a result of your initiative and drive. Ishall, of course, report this to the nextmeeting of the Governors. Meanwhile, Ihope you will accept from me my verywarmest thanks and, indeed, the thanksof all of us concerned with the Trust inthis Country. It really is a most stimulat-ing and generous surprise.

Yours sincerely,Richard Q. GurneyChairman of theBoard of Governors

American Memorial Trust

Second Air Division AssociationEighth Air Force

OFFICERSPresident WILLIAM L. BROOKS

350 Norton St., Boulder, Colorado 80302Vice President. COL. GOODMAN G. GRIFFIN

1655 Makaloa St 2614,Honolulu, Hawaii 96814

Vice PresidentNewsletter . . . WILLIAM G. ROBE RTIE

P.O. Drawer B, Ipswich, Mass. 01938Vice PresidentMembership EVELYN COHEN

404 Atrium Apts., 2555 Welsh Rd.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114

Secretary RAYMOND E. STRONG320 Burlage Circle, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514

Treasurer DEAN E. MOYER549 East Main St., Evans City, Pa. 16033

GROUP VICE PRESIDENTSHeadquarters DEAN E. MOVER

549 East Main St., Evans City, Pa. 1603344th BG CHARLES J. WARTH5709 Walkerton Dr., Cincinnati, Ohio 45238

44th BG GLENN A. TESSMER63 Brewster Rd., Sudbury, Mass. 01776

389th BG ALBERT A. KOPP914 Joy Ave., Rapid City, S.D. 57701

392nd BG JOSEPH B. WHITTAKER811 N. Juniata St., Hollidaysburg, Pa. 16648

446th WILLIAM G. WORKMAN5 Mallard Drive, W. Nyack, N.Y. 10994

448th BG . . . KENNETH ENGELBRECHT204 S. Archie Ave., Granville, Ill. 61326

463rd Sub Depot Sqd. JAMES R. FINDLEYFourth & Miller Sts.

' Sutersville, Penn. 15083

466th BG . . . . DR. JOHN JACOBOWITZLincoln at Millard, Three Rivers, Mich. 49093

467th BG . . .

RAYMOND A. BETCHER366 Reitman CL, Rochester, Mich. 48063

491st BG THEODORE PARKER297 Proctor Ave., Revere, Mass. 02151

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

I have just returned from Wilmington,North Carolina where I attended the27th Reunion of the 2nd A.D. and amini-reunion of the 466 Bomb b'IL,up.We had a wonderful time and I enjoyedrenewing friendships that I have madewithin the 2nd A.D. It was a good feel-ing of making new friends among all theformer (not old) fellows who flew andwho KEPT 'EM FLYING. Many thanksto Aaron Schultz for his efforts inmaking this reunion a great success. Hatsoff to all who helped in any waytowards the final result.

I am certainly honored that youchose me as your president for this year.It goes without saying that followingBill Robertie is a super-task as he hasdone so much for the 2nd A.D. duringhis two years in the office of president.With the help of all members and theofficers I am sure the 2nd A.D. willcontinue to expand.

I will be in touch with each of thegroups Vice President and through theirefforts with their particular group I amsure our membership will increase. Eachof us will be doing a great favor inmaking the members of the variousgroups cognizant of the 2nd A.D. Asso-ciation so that they can once again be-come an active participant in theirgroup. But this time for fun, and not asa destructive force.

WALLY CLAYMAN(491st MASCOT)ALIVE AND WELL

This past May on our trip to Norwichin order to make arrangements for nextyears reunion there we had the happyexperience of meeting Wally Claymanwho, during the war years, served noblyas the 491st Mascot.

Then (photo taken onbase at North Picken-ham).

Wally wasevacuated fromLondon duringthe Blitz andtook up residencenear the 491stbase. It wasn'tlong before Wallybegan makingfriends with everyG.I. he met.Showing the en-terprise thatstoou him in

good stead later in life Wally managed tomake his way on to the base. Getting onthe base however was only part of hisplan. He wanted to sit in one of those bigbombers. Needless to say he did.

On returning to London, Wally firstbecame a cab driver and then a successfulbusinessman. On this visit he insisted onpiling five of us into his small car for atour of London.

Take it fromall five of us, youhaven't seen Lon-don until you'veseen it throughWally's eyes. Heknows the cityand he loves it.Pubs are his spec-ialty and as wellas knowing wherethe good ones arehe knows the badones to avoid. Hisdriving through those crowded Londonstreets was flawless — if you like adven-ture! A tribute to his years as a cabbie.

Now (in one of hisshops in London)

Wally will be at the reunion next yearand you will all get a chance to meet thisdelightful gentleman who remembers usso well.

I am looking forward to our returnto Norwich in 1975. To the ones whoare joining us on the Norwich trip, I say"welcome aboard" and to the ones notgoing to England, I say "on to ValleyForge in 1976."

William L. Brooks

A MESSAGE FROMMAJOR GENERALWILLIAM E. KEPNER

My dear Robertie and the 2AD:It is with a MOST sincere regret that I

must again decide I cannot attend the2AD reunion in Wilmington. I had reallylooked forward to "marshalling" onceagain with our beloved 2AD. Howeverdue to the medical situation of my familyI cannot leave at this time. How I wish Icould be there in person to express mycongratulations to you and the officersand members for such a fine job you allhave done. Pardon me if I say that I get areal glow of pleasure every time I read theNewsletter or hear directly from EvelynCohen, Hathy Veynar, Jordon Uttal andespecially you on the plans and progressfor the 2AD. I especially enjoy suchstories as "The Witchcraft" crew that Irecall so well. Also the many stories toldof personal experiences by various mem-bers on different occasions. I am glad tosee items about our Fighter Groups, thescouting force and the depots. Wasn't itremarkable that each and every onesolved the individual problems so well.Indeed, that was what made the 2ADGreat! as a team. Again I must bow myhead in humble pride that we were allhonored to serve with the 6032 memberswho did not return and whose names arein the Book of Remembrances in ourNorwich Memorial Room. Hats offl and areverent silence. Bless them and bless usall.

Sincerely and affectionately yours,William E. KepnerMajor General USAFCommanding General WWIISecond Air Division

NOTICE

Richard A. Wiggs, 4 Tabor Road,Danbury, Ct. 06810 is seeking in-formation on his uncle, CaptainGordon S. Stevens, who served withthe 44th Bomb Group and the 56thFighter Group. Captain Stevens waskilled while flying with the 56th.Will anybody who knew CaptainStevens please get in touch withDick Wiggs.

We are pub-lishing thisphoto in caseyou rememberfaces but for-get names.

PRIMER FOR ENGLAND

by Joe Warth

My final sentence in the June News-letter was that this issue would tell youabout "Places to see" when you attendReunion "75". This was a broad state-ment on my part because when I thoughtabout all that I had seen on past ex-cursions, and knowing there was no wayBill Robertie was about to give me all thepages in this Newsletter (ed. note: Howright he is!), I decided it would be best ifI let you be your own guide and pick outwhat would be of interest to you alone.

England has something to appeal tothe taste of everyone. Some may wish totrack down a spot where a particularmoment in history occurred. Anothercouple will want to visit churches orancient burial sites. Someone else maywant to take a tour of the coastal villages,or see a working "Windmill", or whatabout a tour of the "Pubs"? Now here isa subject that should be of interest tomany of our members.

It will be different this time. It had better be!!

Where else but in England could yougo Ghost hunting? Over 700 Ghosts havebeen written about and are still known tobe seen at odd times in East Anglia alone.I was also told that if you are lucky, andin the know, you might be able to findout when the local Witches Coven is goingto hold their next service. No joking.They are still very active.

"When theyclose!"

(still true unfortunately.)

close a pub they really

We have some good news --

TWO PLANES FILLED FOR

NORWICH REUNI01 IN '75

While we had some doubts that wecould fill two planes for the reunion nextyear these doubts were quickly removedat the reunion in Wilmington this year.We now have a surplus of applicants.

We cannot handle three plane loads asthe city of Norwich is incapable ofhandling an invasion such as they experi-enced in 1942-1945. The facilities just arenot there. Joe Warth will advise thosewho are on the waiting list and when, asor if seats become available the next onein line on the waiting list will be notifiedthat he, or they, got lucky.

178 family groups have now signed upto attend. The 389th BG is in the leadwith 27 families and the 44th BG behindby just one. The 448th and 466th BombGroups are tied for third with 24 familygroups. The tour will depart on Thursday,May 29th and return Saturday, June 14.

Very soon those who have signed upand are on board will be receiving state-ments for the balance due which will bespaced into three equal payments. Thosewho feel they must cancel out for anyreason please let us know as soon aspossible so somebody on the waiting listcan be given your seat.

And some bad news —

DUES ARE INCREASED

TO $5.00

For lo these many years the Associa-tion has been able to keep our dues at$3.00 per year. At the business meetingthis year, after presentation of facts andfigures, all those present voted in favor ofincreasing the dues to $5.00 per year.

Starting with the next issue we will bepublishing a 12 page Newsletter on aquarterly basis. The cost of printing andpaper have gone out of sight, and you allknow what the Post Office has done tous. We could not continue to put out thetype of Newsletter we do on a regularbasis without this increase.

For those of you who might notknow, we do NOT have a paid staff. Allwork is voluntary by your officers andyour Group Vice Presidents. And, believeme, we still need this increase.We also realize that some of our

members are living on Social Security, ortrying to, and they just cannot afford thisincrease. For those in this condition, or asimilar one, we urge that you write toMembership Secretary Evelyn Cohen andstate the facts. This communication willbe kept private and Evelyn will see to itthat you are not dropped from the rolls.WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANY-BODY. So please, if your experiencingproblems at this time write EvelynCohen, 404 Antrium Apts., 2555 WelshRd., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114.

Ancient monuments or stately homesmay be your meat. If so you are in luck.Within 50 miles of Norwich there areenough to take you months to see. Sobring a camera and a drivers license, renta car and just tour. You will find themjust around the next turn in the road.Museums and antique shops abound.These are good to visit in order to seewhat was commonplace in yesteryear.But please bring money if this appeals toyou because the prices are rising everyday.

350 adventurers have now filled tfpboth planes. If you have waited this longto send in your reservation you may betoo late for a 'SURE' seat. You will haveto take the chance that someone willcancel out. Stand-by numbers will be sentto you in the order the reservation wasreceived. So take a chance that you toomay yet get to go. Send your check tome, Joe Warth, 5709 Walkerton Drive,Cincinnati, Ohio 45238. Make it payableto "Second Air Division Association".

Next issue of the 'primer' will be —What kind of money do we spend inEngland now? Yes Bill, it has changedsince the 'Forties".

(ed. note: Sure has. It's much easiernow.)

'You failed to mention, Captin, that the

Spitfire has a full dihedral, and charac-.teristic eliptically curved wing outline;

that stabilizer and elevator are set high

on the fuselage ... also that the Mark IX

version has radiator intake under both

wings." —Sgt. C. D. Benge

(Roger Freeman, Age 10??)

NAPALM - A UNIQUE USE!

by Edward L. Squires, 441h BG

We had been using a Napalm filled 100lb. incendiary bomb since the early partof the war, but our first indication thatanother use for the agent was con-templated came with an unannouncedtruck convoy carrying 40,000 gallons ofthe stuff in 55 gallon drums.

Mama Mia! Sacre Bleu and Golly Gee!

Shortly afterward, we received a di-rection from Second Division ChemicalHQ to try to develop a means of trans-ferring the material, a gelled gasoline ofabout the consistency of Jello, withwhatever equipment and facilities thatwere available to us on station. A dem-onstration meeting was scheduled acouple of weeks later at one of theinstallations, I forget where, to evaluatethe resultant methods and decide on onefor 8th AF SOP.

The Chemical Munitions section of our806th Cml. Co. AO came up with a meansof using the standard refueling pump,which were available in some quantity ineach squadron supply, by modifying itwith a very short intake pipe and a highpressure setting. The only problem wasthe high risk involved, since the gasolinedriven engine and pump had to be posi:tioned directly over and in contict withthe drum of highly inflammable napalm.The engines were, however, equippedwith spark arresters, and to our knowl-edge never were the source of an acci-dental fire. This transfer method wasadopted, and we conducted instructionseminars in its use at Shipdham for theentire 8th AF.

Since Napalm had not, at that time,been previously dropped from heavybombers, Group Armament, with. theassistance of Group Ordnance and ourChemical Company, were asked to de-velop an operational system that wouldwork. The Armament section of the 44th,headed by a Sergeant whose name escapesme, first tried using the standard 400gallon bay tanks, fitted with cable slings

attached to the bomb racks, as droppablecontainers. Our Cml. section filled two ofthese tanks in place in the bay of a B-24for a drop test over the Wash. The dropwas not successful, the tanks becominglodged in the bay opening, and theaircraft returned to the base and circledwhile all of us involved tried to determineif the plane could land safely. It was aclose thing, but the plane did land aftersome anguished moments without thetanks jarring lose and exploding on con-tact with the runway an eventualitywhich was quite possible. This methodwas, of course, discarded.

After some experimentation it wasdetermined to use 100 gallon papermache wing tanks, positioned on the baybomb racks much the same as a 1000 lb.GP bomb. As I recall, two on each side ofthe rack. One of the problems attendantwith this system was the fact that fillingprocedure was limited to not more than afew hours prior to mission because thesetanks soon became soaked through, flab-by and unsafe to use. This necessitated aplan for filling a great number of tanks ina very short time on each station.

Again, our 806th Cml. MunitionsSection devised a plan, including the useof additional personnel recruited fromGroup Armament • and Ordnance, for ac-complishing the task in the few hoursallotted us. Once again this plan wasadopted and sent out as SOP for 8th AF.

Another problem connected with thissort of droppable container was the meth-od of ignition on impact. This was accom-plished by using a standard whit phos-phorus grenade set in the well of the

Easy when you know how!

tank, and fitted with a British All-Waysfuse in place of the usual spring loadeddetonator. Since these versatile little fuseswere armed immediately upon the with-drawal of the arming wire and explodedupoi an impact from any direction, itwas necessary to devise an extremely longarming wire to ensure that the tanks werewell clear of the bay before withdrawal.This was done by winding standardarming wire from a spool around aspindle attached to a breast drill. Thisformed a coiled spring of the properlength, which was encased in a fuse canwith the ends of the coil protruding fromeither end of the can through holespunched in top and bottom of the can.This encasing of the extremely long wirewas a must to prevent tangling, andworked like a charm.

If my memory serves me well, I believethe load order came through about noonof the day preceding the mission. Thingswent quite smoothly in filling the wingtanks at the bomb dump and transportingthem to the aircraft. It was perhapsmidnight or shortly after when loadingwas completed, and an hour or so laterbefore final checks on each load weremade.

As a security measure to ensure igni-tion on target, a percentage — I seem torecall it being 10% — of the aircraft onthe mission were loaded with 500 lb. GPbombs. Only two Divisions carried Na-palm the 2nd and 3rd. I am not sure ifthe 1st Division took part in the opera-tion at all.

Many missions had been flown againstthis fortification on the point overlookingand dominating the port of Brest. Alltypes of HE, including armor piercingordnance, had been used with no ap-parent success in dislodging the Germanoccupants. Word was, that after thissaturation raid using Napalm the FreeFrench were able to walk in and occupythe fortification without firing a shot.

DONATIONS TOTAL $2,407.00

In a show of generosity seldom seen inthis day and age our members this pastyear contributed $2,407.00 towards theLibrary and the Memorial Trust Fund.Almost double what was donated lastyear.

To supplement the income from theTrust Fund $322.00 was given directly tothe Library for the purchase of books andthe remaining $2,085.00 added to theTrust Fund itself.

This $2,085.00 represents the first legof our climb up the $50,000.00 ladder.$48,000.00 to go. Our aim, and hope, isto reach this figure over the next sixyears. By 1980 we hope to be home free.So start now to send your donations toEvelyn or Dean. You really don't have towait until dues paying time, but that's allright too.

NOTICE

Anyone having information aboutthe whereabouts of members of the446th Bomb Group MedicalSection please contact John R. Bitt-ner, 1150 Westfall Rd., Rochester,New York 14618.

1974 REUNION SENSATIONAL

380 enthusiastic souls turned up forthe 27th Annual Reunion of the Associa-tion this year in Wilmington, North Caro-lina. Under the able direction of AaronSchultz and his committee things wentoff with such 'clockwork' it made ef-ficiency experts appear as doodlers in aplayground.

About half of those present wereattending a reunion for the first time, andwhile they might have gone with sometrepidation about not knowing anybodyand being strangers their fears were soonput to rest. Complete strangers becamefast friends before the reunion was over.

Liquid refreshments with a kick are'Verboten' in North Carolina so we wereleft to our own devices in obtaining anddispensing drinks. I am glad to report thatour members responded with the exper-tise they recalled from the war years.

Earl Zimmerman (389th) managed tocross several State lines with his carcarrying a load similar in size to what wascarried in the bomb-bay of a B-24 —equally as potent also! This is somewhat,if not flagrantly, illegal so Earl didn'tmention this fact to his pretty wife Juneuntil they had crossed the first one.(Goodthinking Earl!) As he did so often duringthe war Earl hit the target and wasassisted in unloading by a throng ofthirsty well wishers. There really shouldbe a medal struck for such devotion toduty.

Dispensing was no problem as we hadmore volunteer bartenders than youcould shake a stick at. J. D. Long (392nd)and his wife manned one and at anothertime yours truly, assisted by JaciciHagify, and Ed Goldsmith, assisted byFritzie Snyder, manned two others.Nobody complained about the size of thedrinks because the bartenders had onlyone, standard question — "say when?"You never saw so many tongue-tiedpeople in your life!

Lt. Col. John N. Clark (44th) broughtalong his little granddaughter, and withall due respect to you 'elders' she had tobe the prettiest girl there. Dressed in thesame type gown as her Grandmother theymade a striking trio. We hope she returnsfor other reunions.

The 'frosting on the cake', as it alwaysis, was the banquet on Saturday nightfollowed by the Ball. Drinks at the barprior to and following the banquet wereabsolutely free and I'm happy to reportthat this was not abused in any way. Seewhat you missed' mOn Sunday morning cars could be seen

taking off in every direction with gearand flaps up and the pilots wavinggoodby to those just taxiing out withtheir baggage. As it happens every yearmany new friends were made by everyoneand we all departed urging somebody to

be sure and be at Valley Forge in '76. Soif you didn't attend this one, be there in'76. You will never regret it.

Next year it is off to Norwich onceagain and the lucky ones who signed upearly and have a seat on one of the twoplanes are in for a time THEY will neverforget. Plans are all firmed up and latestword from England is that they arewaiting to welcome an invasion ofAmericans once again. For those of youon the 'waiting list', don't despaircompletely that is. There are bound to besome drop-outs for any number of rea-sons and you could still end up with aseat.

Enough. We all had a ball as we doevery year and we missed all of you whocouldn't make it

THE 458th IS IN PRINT

A 458th Bomb Group unit history willbe published and available in July, 1974.Hardcover, Squadron insignias, Eighth AFpatch and formator in color. B-24s galor!About 200 photos of aircraft names, noseart, Norwich, Horsham, Haunts, TheMemorial and some surprises. Mission andIntelligence summaries for the entire 14months of opertions are capsuled butcomplete. Edition limited. Delivery price$6.00 (foreign $7.00) each, insured.Write: George A. Reynolds, 848 South86th Street, Birmingham, Alabama35206.

FAMILY MEMBERSHIPS

It is a fact not too well known, thatsons and daughters of our members areeligible to become members of the Asso-ciation in their own right — nieces andnephews also.

If you think your son and/or daughterwould like to become part of this organ-ization why not sign them up? VickieBrooks is already under orders fromPresident Bill to 'get her money up'!

I can't think of a better way for youngpeople from every part of the country tomeet one another and develop the samelasting friendships that we have. Give itsome thought.

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Mrs. Anne Barne

Anne Barne is on the right of the frontrow of the inaugural group of Governorson the second page of chapter 2 of theMemorial Book. Next to her is JudgeFrederick van Pelt Bryan, who subse-quently married Denise Farquharson withwhom Anne had worked for three yearsfor the Norfolk War Charities. ColonelBryan served on General Kepner's staffand, with his legal knowledge, was anatural choice for one of the threeAmerican Founder Governors. It was athis suggestion that Anne, then Mrs. PercyBriscoe and living near Norwich, wasasked to become one of the EnglishGovernors.

Having lost her first husband, Annemarried Colonel Michael Barne in 1953and moved to his family home at Sotter-ley in Suffolk not far from the Norfolkborder. Sotterley near Hollywood, Mary-land, now open to the public, was boughtby Thomas Plater in 1753 and namedafter his family's original property inEngland. Anne and her husband keep intouch with the descendants, now in theU.S.A., of the two families, Sotterlee andPlater, who with the Barnes have success-ively owned the Sotterley property inSuffolk since Anglo-Saxon times.

Of Quaker origin and brought up inthe country Anne has always enjoyedrural pursuits. For a time she had her ownfarm; she loves her garden and her Spring-er spaniels who she works out pheasantshotting. A Cambridge graduate, she hasbeen doing voluntary public work mostof her life, involving local government,politics, preserving the countryside,schools, the Church and the Women'sInstitute movement. She enjoys travelling(and visited the U.S.A. in 1959), thetheatre, pictures, architecture, gardens

and plying her needle. She has a son anddaughter, the one a medical consultant

and the other connected with the Turf

(horse racing), and has three grandchil-

dren.%One of her colleagues notes that Anne

seldom misses a Memorial Trust meeting

and, kind and friendly to all, her contri-

butions in debate are always as much to

the point as they are brief.

attlelititige(466th BOMB GROUP)

8

TRACER OF LOST PERSONS

In building our store of knowledge of the466th we rely to a great extent on the completemission records we have and the Narrative His-tories that are available. These records, thoughworth much, do not often reveal the full flavorof the event (excitement, frustration, despair,etc.). We must rely on 466 people for the addeddimension to make the 466th record a readabledocument. This is the main reason we keepafter the pursuit of 466ers. A secondary reasonfor prying out these missing persons is to bringold war buddies together again. Those that arereunited through out tracer action often con-sider this to be the primary service of the His-tory Project. At the two 466 reunions held to-date, the 466ers present have underwritten theproject with generous donations to cover thecosts of postage, document reproduction fees,printing costs, reunion expenses, etc. It is timeto give you some feedback on what these dona-tions are doing.

In the last half of 1971 we began writing tothe 466ers we were in contact with (60 goodaddresses then), asking for addresses of other466ers. Everyone on this growing list receivedcopies of our little paper "Attlebridge Notes".The new names sent in more names. Also weadvertised in service related publications, tellingof the up-coming reunion. The list grew byleaps and bounds. By the fall of 1972, afterthree issues of Attlebridge Notes and our firstreunion, our list of addresses stood at 430. Itlooked as though we had exhausted our poten-tial for growth. In the winter of 1972/73 webegan writing to the many colleges 466ers hadattended before WWII (some of the records wehad, showed college affiliations of our guys).This required about 140 form letters. We didn'thear from them all, but the response did bringin 121 new addresses for us. We wrote to them,sending a tabulation we called a "Historigram".From that group we got more new addresses.By the fall of 1973 (after our second reunion)our address list had risen to a total of 654. Thewinter of 1973/74 has been spent in the firststeps of researching the Group history. Wewrote to individuals who took part in some ofthe highlight events that punctuated the 466thhistory. Perhaps now we have reached a newand final plateau. The list keeps growing, butmore slowly now. Even so, each find is import-ant to the History Project and to the friendswho have reestablished contact through theproject. With the 3rd reunion for the 466thbehind us, our address list totals 743.

It must be remembered that our tracer ef-fort will not have long range benefit unlessmore of our fmdees subscribe to AttlebridgeNotes (through the Second Air Division Associ-ation). At last count, more than half of our listare on the 2nd Air Division Roster. A goodshare of the new 2AD members came in as aresult of a special mailing made last fall to allnon-2AD men on our address list. Now it is upto each one of us to urge the other half to avoidbecoming lost again by getting on the 2AD Ros-ter. You might help your non-joining friends bysubscribing to Attlebridge Notes for them.Chances are, they will want to stay on boardonce you start them. Three dollars is not toomuch for a buddy.

The reader should recognize the fact thatthe tracer effort need not be confined to SouthFlorida. Anyone can do it. Write to the AlumniAssociation, the home town newspaper, theClerk of his county, and so on. When you find alost one, let us know.

TRACER STORIES

Editor:Lt. Col. John H. Woolnough7752 Harbour Blvd.Miramar, Fla. 33023

The best way to illustrate the worth oftracer action to the History Project is to reciteseveral recent cases.

CASE NO. I: Del. M. Everton was a pilot ofone of the first replacement crews in the 784thBS. In April 1973 we wrote to Hardin-SimmonsU. in Abilene, TX asking for Del's address.They wrote back saying they had had Del as astudent for only one semester and had no ad-dress on him. They did send his mother's ad-dress. After several trys, we reached her. InJanuary 1974 she sent us Del's address (Lub-bock, TX). On our only contact with Del, hehad no info on his own crew, but he did send usthe address of Major Jack Schlueter (tail gunneron the Earl Nelson crew, 785th Dec. 44/Apr.45) also of Lubbock. Del promised to dig intohis past and send more dope. We have sent theinitial packet of information to Jack along withaddresses for his pilot, bombardier, and radiooperator. As for the Everton crew, Ma Bell tellsme that there is a J. M. Crowell in West Des-Moines, and a Ralph J. Chmurski in Milwaukee.We hope that these are the co-pilot and navi-gator on that crew. The search continues.

Jack Weber (of the 785th Reynolds crew) andhis wife look over B-24 model that John Wool-nough (787th and 784th) is using to illustrate apoint.

CASE NO. 2: In an attempt to publicize ournext reunion in a local paper, I arranged to havea photo taken with Jack A. Veber, bombardieron Al Reynolds' 785th crew (Oct. 44/Mar. 45).In the spring of 1973 I had learned that Jacklived near me as the result of a query sent toCreighton University. To make a story thenewspaper would print, I had to find somethingof interest that we held in common. In the mis-sion records I found that though I did notknow any member of that new crew, they hadflown off of my left wing on the last missionour crew flew - I Nov. 1944. The story of thatmission, our first meeting - 30 years later, andthe forth-coming reunion was printed in theHollywood, Fla. SUN-TATTLER, 25 March1974. After the job was done, I thought it wastoo bad that Jack was the only member of theReynolds crew we had on the list. I looked upthe co-pilot (Sayle), who had lived in Mil-waukee before the war, and found that namestill listed there. On a hunch, I took a chanceand called him up (I don't often do that) and

hit pay-dirt. It was him alright. He gave me theaddresses of the engineer and two gunners (thenI had 5 good addresses for that crew). Bill Saylealso told me that the radio operator, FrankSpurlock had been on the staff of the KansasCity Star ten years earlier. I wrote to the Starand they sent me Frank's home address. Nowwe had six good addresses on the Reynoldscrew. Only three members were still missing(the pilot had died a few years before). The real.bonus from this tracer operation came in theform of Frank Spurlock's diary - 32 pages,typed, single spaced (Sayle sent me a copy forme to photograph and return). Frank is present-ly the Features Editor of the K-C Star. Hiswriting ability shows in the diary. He not onlydescribed missions well, he gave the menu forthe Christmas Dinner, told details of the AeroClub, described the gas missions, reported onseveral London trips ... and generally gave apicture of the life of a combat-crewman on theground. All in all Frank's diary comes as a rarefind, a great addition to the History collections,it ranks next to the "Log of the Snark", a 77page diary penned by Claude Meconis (co-piloton the Dike crew - 785th Mar/Jul 1944), andthe several fat photo albums loaned to me byconsiderate 466ers.

OPERATIONS HOME RUN

In June of 1945 the 466th began its moveback to the states with the fly out of all of itsaircraft (78 in all). Each aircraft held ten crewmembers and ten passengers, except for thePFF a/c (784th) which carried only five passen-gers each. The crew chief of each aircraft was afixed part of each passenger load. Specialbenches were built for the bomb bays, presum-ably to carry baggage (who could sit in a bombbay for a long trip? - the thought of a salvowould preclude security). The orders that eachperson carried (20 each according to the rec-ords) were separate paragraphs of OperationsOrder No. 10, dated I June 1944. The HistoryProject now has 31 different paragraphs of the78 that were issued. We are looking for the rest.Look in your records if you have one that doesNOT show in the list below, send us a copyposthaste.1, 2, 3, 4, 17, 18, 22, 26,27,28,29,30, 31,32, 33, 34,36,37, 38,39,40,41,42,43,44,46, 54, 60,62,65.78

Lt. Col. Joe West (on left) is logging out the lastaircraft to leave Attlebridge on OperationsHome Run. It was 42-95617-1, in revetmentNo. 2 of the 784th Bomb Squadron. The Max-ton crew flew that a/c back to the states. Lt.Col. John Jennison (on right) went out on thata/c as Command Pilot for that last flight.

THE WAR DIARY

I suppose everyone resolved to keep an ac-curate diary of the combat experiences. I knowthat I did so resolve. I kept notes (rather sparse)of our first four missions, then nothing, exceptfor a complete record of the D-Day mission wemade. When we headed home in mid-November1944 someone took the notes from me, promis-ing that they would be returned after the war.Sure enough, several years after the war, mymiserable notes found their way to me.

Fortunately other diaries (good ones) madeit through the war and are now available to theHistory Project. Excerpts from two diaries fol-low:

knighthood officially. Below the chapel, theguide explained, was a private execution cham-ber. A display of swords and armor could beseen in the banqueting hall just outside thechapel."We were shown the house where Lady Jane

Gray was held prisoner, the place in the court-yard where they erected the scaffold on whichHenry VIII's wives were beheaded, the chapelwhere the remains of all the victims of thetower's executions were finally laid away, thetower where Sir Walter Raleigh was kept prison-er 14 years, the royal jewel-keeper's abode, vari-ous other towers and gates and moats — all oldand musty, of flint rock construction for themost part."

Men of the 466th crawl over the hulk of the broken a/c that Lt. Nick Furnace (now a Houston)brought back "safely" on 19 April 1944. The sad plight of "Shack Date" (42-52566-P of the 786thbelonging to the Foster crew) proves the old saying, "A safe landing is one you can walk awayfrom", they all did.

Claude V. Meconis (co-pilot on 785th Dikecrew, now Corporate Director of Public Rela-tions and Advertising for Litton Industries).19 Apr 1944, about 1300 hrs. " ... went downto operations ... and went out to watch theboys land back from the mission. Glad I didbecause I witnessed my first wheels-up B-24landing and picked up a pointer on how to doit.

"Lt. Furnace came in with two inboard en-gines shot out and number one ready to quite.No hydraulic pressure; in fact, no equipment atall, so they couldn't get the wheels down.Ignoring the red flare from flying control hecame in on the grass alongside the runway. Withno rudder control left, he used ailerons to es-tablish a crab to overcome a 90 degree cross-wind. A group of us were in the path of hislanding (we thought) so when he levelled off atthe grass-tip height, we scrambled to get out ofthe way.

"The plane settled and began crunchingalong, still in a crab. Props went flying as theblade tips struck ground. As it slithered alongthe crab increased until the plane was slidingand ripping along broadside. That can't lastlong with a B-24, so a few seconds later it col-lapsed, crunched and came to a stop. We wereparalyzed as we saw the whole flight deck sec-tion crumple back of the pilot. The back endtwisted up as if it were papier-mache. I expect-ed the whole thing to go up in flames the min-ute it came to rest — but thank God it didn't,and all the crew members crawled out unhurt.The Colonel came out and congratulated Fur-nace on bringing it back all the way from FlakValley, even tho the plane lay there a total loss.It was the worst crack-up I had ever seen."

That afternoon Meconis took off for a passin London. We pick him up in the diary on 20April.

"The tour through the Tower of Londonwas, I think, the most interesting thing I didwhile in London. An old man, keeper of thekeys, garbed in a red-black cape and flat hatand britches, took us up into the main tower ina chapel where in medieval times knights kneltand prayed all night before receiving their

Frank H. Spurlock (radio operator on 785thReynolds crew, now Feature Editor of theKansas City Star newspaper."Attlebridge, near Norwich, England, Septem-ber 7, 1944. "This is our permanent Eighth AirForce base. We flew here from northern Irelandtoday in a battered B-24. We're in East Anglia,not far from the east coast. The nearest fairsized town is Norwich. London is about 90miles south-southwest. The base is like theformer ones (ed note: this crew had trained atseveral other bases in the UK before reachingAttlebride) — a group of buildings here andsome more half a mile or a mile away, and us-ually not one, but several farms between armybuildings.

"The larger buildings are brick but most arenissen huts — half tubes of corregated tin set onconcrete islands in the English mud. They arelonger than wide, have a door at each end and asmall stove in the center, which is NOT bigenough to hold a fire all night. Each has threeor four electric lights and bunks line each sideof the hut. Pictures of Rita Hayworth or some-one comparable decorate the doors and most ofthe wall space. Where there aren't pinups theremay be rows of bombs painted on the wall toindicate how many missions a crew has. Theoutside of the huts are painted gray, black andbrown colors for camouflage.

Two unknown men pose in front of a NissenHut like the one described in Spurlock's diary,though, I suspect his was a little neater. Crewchief, M. A. Munafo of the 785th sent in thepicture.

"Our sacks (beds) here are made up of ametal frame and flat springs with a mattressconsisting of three "biscuits" — equal sizedsquares of canvas covered cotton stuffing (ednote: I thought they held straw — they neverdried out in the England damp) which are sup-posed to fit together as a whole on the bunk.They don't stay together so well, however."

The above account was taken from pagefour of Frank Spurlock's 32 page diary. Thefollowing was taken from pages 30 and 31 ofthat interesting document.

"Attlebridge, England, May 10th, 1945. TodayI went on my 36th and most enjoyable mission,to Germany. Of course we didn't drop anybombs and flew at about a thousand feet all theway. Went across Belgium and flew very lowover Brussels. There were very many flags out,celebrating victory. Their flag is red, orange,and black. Could see the people looking up andthe little street cars, one attached behind an-other, very plainly. Went over a lot of territorythat had scars of battles — trenches, shell holes,a deserted tank, or a portion of an airplane hereand there. Went down to the southern part ofGermany and then flew over all the large townsalong and near the Rhine, viewing the bombdamage. There were pontoon and woodenbridges at various places along the Rhine, butall the regular bridges that we saw were down.Passed over a big PW area on one side of theRhine. The ground was covered for miles withGermans. Circled Cologne. It was the worst, Ithought. Only the huge cathedral is still stand-ing in a vertical position. It is probably amiracle that it was saved.

The Cologne Cathedral stands in stark contrastto the surrounding rubble. This picture wastaken from one of the a/c in the "Trolley Mis-sion" Spurlock described.

"Holland looked neat. Very little damagewas noticeable from the air. Of course, it hadn'tbeen bombed since the Germans took over in1940. The Dutch were flying a red, white, andblue flag, and also an orange flag. They allwaved to us and seemed especially excited overus flying over, probably because Americanplanes in the past few weeks have been para-chuting food to them. At one place they had"Thanks" spelled out with rocks on the ground.This "mission" was for the benefit of theground men mainly. We took about 10. I flew

as radio operator with a captain I flew with

once last month. (ed. note: most of Reynolds'

crew left the base around the middle of April1945)‘ A ground officer who went with us acci-dentally pulled the ripcord on the chute he wasgoing to take, just before he got into the plane.

The thing billowed out right then and there andhe was embarrassed! The ground men got a bigkick out of the trip, though. It was a perfectday as far as the weather was concerned."

$50,000 FUND DRIVE UNDERWAY

At our meeting in Wilmington thisyear we announced the 'kick off' of a$50,000 fund raising drive to bolster theMemorial Trust Fund in its continuingfight against rampaging inflation.Now I will be the first to admit that

the American people are annually buriedunder one national fund drive after an-other, but in those drives you never reallyknow how your donations are ultimatelyused — albeit they are all for good causes.

The Memorial Trust Fund is our own,and we know EXACTLY how the moneyis used. The income from the Trust Fundgoes to the library for the purchase ofessential books on America. Books, hap-pily, are the bridge of understandingbetween peoples of different nations andthis can readily be seen in our ownrelationships with the people of EastAnglia. If there is to be peace in theworld in years to come it will be thedirect result of this type of understand-ing. The Memorial Room has gained aninternational reputation among bibli-ophiles and scholars, as well as the read-ing public, in both England and thecontinent.

Unfortunately, inflation has hit hardeverywhere and the income from theTrust Fund simply cannot buy as muchtoday as it did yesterday.We are all managing to get a bit older

each year and we cannot expect the levelof private donations from members, par-ents and other relatives to continue at itspresent level as the years pass. If wecannot increase the present income fromthe fund the effects on buying policy inthe library would be that a much narrow-er range of books would be bought,probably those at the lower end of theprice scale. Sets and series which havebeen begun could not be continued, andout-of-date editions would be maintainedon current display because of the impossi-bility of acquiring their successors. Thecumulative effect on the Memorial Roomwould be that it would eventually be-come a mausoleum of the books of ageneration ago. One occasionally sees inschools or colleges libraries which havesuffered this fate. This would be a betray-al of the Founders (all of us) who alwayssought, and have so far achieved, a livingMemorial.

It becomes imperative then that weincrease the capital fund substantially. Wefeel that $50,000 will enable the Me-morial Room to remain 'alive' and avibrant force for peace and understandingfor the forseeable future. We simply mustdo all in our power to attain this end.THIS IS OUR MEMORIAL IN MEMORYOF THOSE WHO DIDN'T MAKE ITHOME. We owe it to them to continuethis fight to keep the Memorial alive. Wecan do no less.

So this year really kick in to the bestof your ability. Those $1.00 and $2.00donations are just as important as the$100.00 kind — and we hope to seeplenty of those.We do not expect our members to

carry this burden alone and throughoutthe year the officers of the Associationwill be seeking help from charitablefoundations noted for their assistance toworthy causes. At the same time a drive,conducted by our Board of Governors,will be going on in England as they seekassistance from their charitable founda-tions.

Once again we are fighting side by sidewith the British. This time the enemy isinflation and I know we'll win again. Wemight be creaking in the joints but we'renot dead yet.

B-24 PAINTING PROUDLY

HANGS IN MEMORIAL ROOM

Ever since the Memorial room wasfounded there was no way, on the sur-face, for anyone to determine what typeof plane the men flew who donated thisunique Memorial to the Norwich CityLibrary.

This past May, while several of us werein England, Mike Bailey, noted Britishartist and illustrator of aircraft of WWpresented his painting of "Hooken Cow"to us and the Library. Where it now hangsit can be seen from as far away as thestreet and is a most welcome, and needed,addition to our memorial.

[L to RI Mike Bailey, Richard Gurney(Chairman of the Board of Governors)and Bill Robertie.

The painting is exact in every detail,right down to the rivets. Mike is preparedto do a similar painting of your aircraft inflight for a charge ranging from $105.00to $135.00. If you wish further detailsplease write to the Newsletter and we willanswer any questions you might have.

We are all grateful to Mike for thisbeautiful painting now proudly hangingin our Memorial Room.

REUNION CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

Our 27th Annual Reunion is now pastand I would feel remiss if I did notexpress my gratitude to all of you mem-bers for helping to make this a resoundingsuccess and creating a spirit of unity anddedication for our unique Associationand what it stands for.

You came from far and wide to joinyour comrades, renewing old friendshipsand making new ones. We had our goodtimes at the beaches near Wilmington,tasting southern foods, listening to ourofficers at meetings, seeing a fashionshow for the ladies, having mini reunionmeetings etc. We saw films of the stra-tegic bombing raids such as the Ploesti oilfields which brought nostalgic momentto those that were involved in that actionand feelings of awe to those of us whoviewed this for the first time. We listenedto speeches by General Lukeman of the467th B.G. and our own beloved TomEaton of Norwich, England. Also we werefortunate to have Willie Elder conductthe memorial service aboard the U.S.S.Battleship North Carolina and her inspir-ing timely message will not be forgotten.It was a fitting climax to our busyconvention.

[L to RI Bill Robertie, Jordan Uttal,Aaron Schultz, Tom Eaton.

Mr. Tom Eaton gave us a plan tocompete with inflation by trying to in-crease capitol funds by $50,000.00 in thenext few years to preserve the library inNorwich. While it is true that there aremany memorial plaques and words en-graved in stone in various parts ofEngland concerning the troops that werethere during World War II, our memorialroom in the library in Norwich is the onlyone of its kind sponsored and supportedby U.S. Soldiers as a living memorial tothe 6,032 men who gave their lives whileserving with our 2nd Air Division.

Once again, many thanks to you all forhelping to make our 27th Reunion thesuccess it was. Lei hope that we canmeet again for our 28th Reunion inNorwich, England in 1975, God willing.

Sincerely,A. C. Schultz,27th Reunion Chairman

I HAVE QUITE A FEW MEMORIES

by June Zimmerman

(talk given at the 2nd ADA banquet1974)

It's a privilege for me to be heretonight and I'm sure you also feel it is aprivilege. I have made many new friendsand I consider that quite an honor.

I know there are several other Englishgirls here tonight and, you know, for along time I thought there was only onebase, Hethel the 389th, as that basecontained the only man I was interestedin.

Today I found out something I hadn'trealized before. I also lived near theboundry of Horsham St. Faith and Iunderstand there are quite a few heretonight from that base.

June Zimmerman

I've had quitea feW experi-ences. I used towatch the planesgo out to Ger-many almostevery day andwhen I camehome from workat night theywould be return-ing from thesemissions. I used

to count them with anguish in my heart.When I saw there were some missing Ihoped they were landing at other fields. Iused to watch the flares go up and knowthat there were wounded aboard and itworried me.We had one plane from Horsham St.

Faith crash on my home. It took awaymy side bedroom and killed children inthe garden next door. The boys, theAmerican boys, were all killed. So I havequite a few memories with all of you eventhough I was quite young.

(ed. note: The above talk was given byJune just before the invocation which shealso conducted. It is very moving and wethought our members who could not bethere would like to read it.)

GAS DROP

by Tom Swint

All this fuss and feathers about a gaso-line shortage reminds me of a story.

Back in the summer of 1944 duringWorld War II, the Allies had invadedEurope. The tanks were hung up for amonth or so in the hedgerows of Norman-dy. Then they broke out and armoredcolumns were streaking across Europewith a German army in retreat.

There was just one problem; maybetwo. They ran out of gasoline. The Ger-mans sensed this and stiffened their resist-ance.

During all these exciting times, I wasat a heavy-bomber base near Norwich,England, flying milk runs or ground sup-port over France.

One morning an officer shook me inmy sack and asked if I had any infantryexperience. Still rubbing sleep from myeyes, I told him I was a doughfoot for ayear before I came to the Air Corps. Hegrunted:• "OK, you'll do. Get dressed."Now for an exciting mission you

would have expected something moredramatic than that.

I dressed and reported to Group Oper-ations. There I learned our bombers weregoing to be used to haul cans of gasolineto the tanks that were stalled in NorthernFrance.

As a sergeant, I was to take an advanceparty over in the first plane and guard thecans of gasoline the bombers would ferryfrom England to San Quentin, France.

There was one other very big problem.The runways had holes and landing aB-24 bomber loaded with hundreds ofjerry cans of gasoline was no joke. Onebad landing and everything would goboom.

Getting our first flight down ontoFrench soil was like walking on eggs. Oh,yes, I almost forgot the most importantpart. We had assumed the base was se-cured.

When our Liberator bomber zoomedin for a landing, I could see men in graysuits running like crazy for the roads lead-ing away from the base. I was so scaredwith all thar explosive aboard, it nevercrossed my mind that those were Ger-mans.

I didn't really think about it when Iwas lining the planes up for unloading onan apron as far from the landing runwayas we could get. Then one of the unload-ing crew came up and said it sure wasodd. There was still a fire in a cookstovein the underground bunker where theGermans had lived.

It didn't take us long to unload thegasoline cans and pitch tents along theapron. The colonel told me our group wasto scrounge up wheelbarrows and get adetail busy pouring rocks into thosebomb craters before one of those B-24scrashed and blew us all to kingdom come.

After the officers flew back to Rack-heath in their big silver birds, we startedto explore the base. French kids material-ized from nowhere. They eyed us and weeyed them. The little boys wore dresses.(This seemed odd to me.) The olderpeople made sign language and we soonlearned that the Germans actually werefleeing when our squadron was circlingthe field that morning.

None of us spoke French. But PhilWuertemburg, a Texan, spoke Spanish.Wart, as he was called, soon learned thatthe American infantry was still about 30miles away. The Frenchmen had seen notanks. They showed us a warehousewhere the Germans stored supplies. Wefound cans of sausage and some delightfulbitter-sweet chocolate.On the next flight of gasoline, we were

better organized with a crew to guide thebombers around the chuck holes and an-

other group to unload the airplane. Theair crews did not have to dismount.

Wart told me if we could get a fewcases of lye soap from the base back inEngland, he thought he could swap it tothe French farm women for fresh vege-tables to go with our C rations (and Ger-man sausages).One of the air crews delivered a packet

of French money from our escape kits. Itturned out the peasants around the basewould rather have soap and sugar. Wart,who had been a lowly jeep driver in Eng-land, was now a Texas wheeler-dealer inonions, eggs and ripe tomatoes. Severalbottles of yin rouge and yin blanc materi-alized.

We had two crews of civilians haulingrocks to fill the bomb craters. We paidthem in paper money and C rations.

The word spread fast when we learnedthat the shops in the village near the basehad lots of French perfume and facepowder. Being ambassadors of good will,we really set up the first European Com-mon Market. Wart traded G.I. soap forvegetables and perfume. We then swappedthe perfume and lipstick to air crews,which took them back to England. TheEnglish girls had been several years with-out cosmetics."Oh, ho, ho, Henry Higgins, just you

wait ..."Our paradise lasted about a week.

Then a squadron of 9th Air Force P-38s(fighter planes) was moved to the base toprotect the gasoline. The fighter pilotshad been in France longer. They couldparlez vous and we could only use a signlanguage and a few winks. Guess whotook over?

When the foot soldiers arrived in lateAugust, we had the runways repaired, afunctional black market in perfume andG.I. soap, and several thousand gallons offuel for the armored columns.

The French baker was delivering longloaves of bread to our mess tent and thepriest was worrying about the young girls.

When the first American infantry offi-cer rode up in a jeep, we expected praiseand stood at attention. He looked at meand said:

"Where the hell you guys been? Dam-mit, don't salute me. There may beKrauts around here.

I was sort of glad to return to England.Our war was better.

NOTICE

If anybody remembers serving with

Lt. Hank J.H.B. Dykstal of the

44th Bomb Group will you please

get in touch with Hank J. B.

Dykstal, 3A Edinburg Drive, Wis-

bech, Cambs. England. Young Hank

never knew his father as Lt. Dkystal

was killed in action in late 1944.

Hank would appreciate any in-

formation from those who knew his

father and photos if they are avail-

able. Write direct to Hank or the

Newsletter and we will see to it that

the information is passed along.

LETTERS

Dear Sir:I've just finished your latest newsletter. I've

read them all with great interest. I think I enjoythem more than my father. I missed beingaround in WW II by at least five years, but myinterest is as strong as those who lived throughit.

I'm always looking for mention of the 93rdBC as that was my Father's. (tic flew missionsfrom October '44 to April '45, before that hewas a pilot instructor in the States). I have onlyone picture of him overseas (with a moustacheyet!) so I can't send a copy or any spares. Hisship was B-24.1 assigned to him the 20th ofMarch '45, Suqadron letter 'W' (Willie). In all36 missions no one was injured on his plane.

I would be interested in news about the409th Bomb Squadron and the 93rd BombGroup or from anyone who might have knownmy father then. 1 love hearing what otherpeople remember of that time everyonesversion is different.

Well I just wanted to write yell to thankyou for the news. As both an interesteddescendant and historian I appreciate the valueof your work. My Father is Edward L.McGuire, Jr.

Yours truly,Mary T. McGuire

(ed. note: Thank you for your letter Mary andwhile I'm alit how about joining the Associa-tion in your own right. Immediate familymembers are eligible you know. Just sendEvelyn Cohen your $5.00 dues and get yourown Newsletter.)

Hello Everybody!!I'm one sad fellow that we couldn't be at

the reunion this year (1974) but do to the sadmess the oil companies put us in we didn't feellike we could take the time off. We had plans togo right to the 'lite of the banquet and ball. Thenext best thing was to call you luckier peopleon Saturday the 27th but the hotel would notsend anyone to the banquet room and get oneof three people -- Bill Robertie, John Wool-nough or Harold Anderson. So to this day,Sunday 28 July 1974 we have not talked toanyone.

We would like anyone to drop us a letterand tell us what went on this reunion.

We sure missed everyone this year.James (Bob) Carey

(ed. note: We missed you too Bob and hopeyou can make England next year or ValleyForge the year after.

Dear Evelyn:30 years ago to date I flew with the 389th

B.G. as a Radio Operator in the crew of JessieL. Mynick.

All those years I have wished I could findsome of the gang but have never been able tolocate anyone. Then out of the blue I received atelephone call at work from a Mr. Ed. Griffinwho I didn't know. He put me in touch withMr. Aaron Schultz.

I received a copy of the Newsletter and backin time for 30 years I went. I can't express mymixed feelings. I close my eyes and in my mindit's sweating out the mission all over again.Funny you forget the bad and remember onlythe good times.

Enough of this for now. Thank you forletting me ramble on.

Cheers,J. L. Morton

(ed note: Ramble on anytime J. I.. This is yourNewsletter.)

Dear Sir,Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed

the 2nd Air Division 448th reunion at Wilming-ton, N.C. this past weekend. It was the firstreunion that I have ever attended. I have beento many Air Force Association reunions inWashington, D.C. I think the banquet wasexcellent.

I also enjoyed the mini reunion of the 448thFriday night. It was the first time that I hadseen our 448th Commander, Col. Charles B.Westover then. The last time I had come incontact with him was many years ago when hehad our entire crew stand at attention in hisoffice while he gave us the going over. We hadlost three B-24 Liberators in a row, we leftthree ships over on the continent all piled up.He just kept us at attention for quite some timeuntil he wanted to know whose side we wereflying for. The ships were all results of flakholes.

Again. I want to tell you how much that Ienjoyed the trip to Wilmington, with bestwishes, I am,

Sincerely,Richmond Henre Dugger, Jr.Broadnax, Virginia 23920

Dear Bill:As a new and elated member of the Second

Air Division Association I can only thanksomeone who submitted my name to a fellowmember of the 448th Bomb Group, 715thSqdn. I am so happy that after all these yearssomeone had the forethought and initiative togather fellow airmen together to reminisce overdays gone by and am looking forward to the upand coming reunions. I cannot express myfeelings on receiving the Newsletter and all thatit contained and will surely pass all my availableinformation on to my fellow crewmen.

Again let me express my gratitude andadmiration on your fine job and wish that wemay get together in the future and exchangegreetings.

Francis X. Sheehan33704 ShiawasseeFarmington, Michigan 48024

Dear Friend,While on a teaching assignment at Laken-

heart/Mildenhall Air Force Stations in England.I was made aware that the Second Air Divisionhas an organization. I don't know why I hadn'theard of this before, but in any case

I was a bombardier with the 392nd BombGp. (HO from Aug. 1944 to March 1945. Couldyou please send me whatever information youhave relating to membership, publications, back

issues of the Newsletter, etc.? I'll be returningto the States early in July and would appreciatehaving this information.

Cordially,George Barger

(ed. note:. There are many more like youGeorge who would be just as delighted to hearabout the Association. How about passing theword and sending Evelyn Cohen any names andaddresses you might have?)

Dear Evelyn,A few weeks ago I was fortunate in that I

sat across from Col. & Mrs. Griffin (Griff &Bobbie) at an ROA dinner and found about theSecond Air Division Association. I am enclosingmy check for membership.

Incidentally Griff provided me with a copyof the December 1970 Newsletter with its shorthistory of the 491st Bomb Group. I was in the853rd Squadron from 8 July 1944 to 13 April

1945. Flew 30 missions and ended up as leadnavigator. The article brought back manymemories. On the Misburg mission of 26November 1944 (article says 1945), my crewwas scheduled to lead that one. We were alsoscheduled to go on pass and the crew opted to

take the pass, even though it broke up the leadcrew rotation. We lost all 13 crews on thatmission and you can imagine the feeling we hadwhen we returned to the base the next day.

I am looking forward to receiving theNewsletters and hope that one day I will beable to make it to the reunions.

Yours truly,Henry W. Liljedahl

Dear Mr. Warth,I was surprised to run into an old World War

II buddy who informed me that the Second AirDivision, 8th Air Force had an association andwere planning a reunion in 1975 in Norwich,England.

Now I have a number of questions: First, Iwas a member of the 734th Bomb Squadron,453rd Bomb Group stationed at Old Bucking-ham. I would like to join the association if Iknew who to write to. Secondly, I would loveto make the trip to Norwich next year with mywife.

My war-time buddy gave me your address ashe understands you have the necessary informa-tion regarding this trip and the organization. Iam interested in the dates, cost, etc. If I shouldbe writing to the wrong person, please advise asI am interested in hearing about the old groupsand perhaps I can run down some of my oldcrew members.

I am enclosing a self-addressed envelope foryour convenience.

Sincerely,Roger R. Hahn

(ed. note: Dis is de place. Hope youin running down some of yourmembers. Send names and addressesCohen.)

have luckold crewto Evelyn

Dear Mr. Warth:Enclosed is my check for $25.00 deposit for

the Second Air Division Assn. Reunion inNorwich, England in 1975.

Both my wife and I are looking forward to areally great trip. I have not been back since thewar and my wife has never been there so it willbe quite a nice experience for us both.

Sincerely,Edward M. Holgate

Dear Bill:I can't begin to tell you what a thrill it was

to receive your very warm and most enjoyedletter of April 8th.

The memories I have lived with all burstforth as I read your letter and the Newsletteryou sent along. Yes, you were right in thinkingI served with the 44th. I joined the 44th inJune of '44 and flew my 35th and final missionat the end of April '45. I sailed out of South

Hampton on May 7th 1945 the day Germanysurrendered.

We were in the 68th Bomb Squadron whenMajor Lenhausen was C.O. I am 50 years old

and in all that time I have never met a man Ilooked up to and thought as much of as I didMajor Lenhausen. Do you ever hear from him

or what he is doing now? Any news of himwould be welcome.

I won't be able to make the reunion thisyear but my wife and I will be going to the one

in Norwich in '75. Bill, I am sending my $3.00dues to join the Association so please get me

enrolled. Do you by chance have any pastcopies of the Newsletter you could mail me toread? I sure hope you do.

With best regards,Bob Winters

(ed note: You will be happy to learn Bob thatMajor Lenhausen is a member of the Associa-tion and I'm sure he will be glad to hear fromyou. His name and address is in the Roster youmust have by now. Extra copies of the previousNewsletters will be sent as soon as I get aminute. Welcome aboard.)

Dear Joe,I was sure glad to see your article in the 2nd

Air Division News Letter of March 1974 regard-ing the 1975 planned reunion in late May.

Please find my check for the $25.00 for mywife, Barbara. and myself.

My wife teaches high school but we arehoping if the reunion is in late May we can hirea substitute and she can make the trip too. Isure want her to sec our old 448th's base atSeething and also to visit Norwich. London andpossibly some points on the continent.

I was fortunate enough to have made theolympic games in Munich and for the first timeput my feet on German soil.

It was quite unfriendly when I finished mymissions on April 11, 1944 prior to the invasionso after 28 years I got to see part of thecountry that we will never forget.

It's too bad everyone can't go back to visitbut of course there are many circumstanceswhich prevent this for those of us who arcfortunate enough to be still alive.

If you find out the specific dates I wouldappreciate you putting it in the Air DivisionNews as soon as you know.

My wife and I sure had a wonderful time atColorado Springs last summer and like so manyothers I never knew there was an organizationprior to being advised in the mail by KenEnglebrecht of our 448th Bomb Group.

I'm sure there are still hundreds who areunaware of such an organization and I wishthere was some way they could all be advisedbecause they don't know what they are missing.

I sure appreciate the work you and ourelected officials are doing in behalf of ourorganization and especially in making plans forour 1975 reunion in Norwich.

Best personal regards,Leroy Engdahl

Dear Bill:Last week while visiting Norwich Central

Library, Mr. David Stoker happened to show

1oto\2"AIR DIVISION JEWELRY AU proceeds toFine 3dimensional, cast antique pewter B 24's pd.2 AIR DIV. Memorial FundCheck and circle item wanted belowTIE TACKDor TIE BAR 0 Send check or M/0 for $4.95 to

me a copy of his letter to you, dated 31stMay. In it I noticed that you were both wait-ing to hear from me with reference to ourSociety's activities, in particular with regard tothe 2nd Air Division. Please accept my apol-ogies for the delay and misunderstanding onmy part:

Briefly, the Society, which is six years old,consists of a group of individuals who aregathering together information from every,source available to form an accurate factualhistory of aviation activities in East Angliaduring World War Two. We realize the task isimmense and that information is scarce, butby such means as sifting through official wartime records, corresponding with aviation ex-perts, digging up the remains of aircraftwrecks to establish identities, interviewinglocal people who remember incidents and byreading all the relevant aviation literature wecan lay hands on, we are slowly amassing a

_ detailed wealth of information.

The 2nd Air Division has always been afavorite subject for our research, especially formyself with all its former airfields concen-trated around Norwich, in which I live.

As well as compiling facts on 2nd Air Di-vision aircraft complete with crew lists, mis-sion details, serials, eye witness accounts, wehave located and unearthed several aircraftwrecks that were not completely cleared awayby the recovery crews. One recent examplethat may interest you. concerns a 13-24 of the392nd B.G. This aircraft, a P.I..F, serial num-ber 42-51150 was returning from a raid in abadly damaged condition on the 23rd March1945 when, about ten miles north of Norwichit suddenly burst into flames and plunged tothe ground, killing eight of the twelve crewmembers. The radar operator, with the rankof Captain, survived the crash, parachutinginto a local graveyard, landing squarely on topof a headstone. The Captain's remarks on thisfeat were, according to an eye witness, notprintable. A search for the wreckage of this

'aircraft produced, among other fragments,pieces of moulded fibreglass probably fromthe radome.

From each wreck investigation we keep rec-ognizable parts that are in reasonable condi-tion and these are cleaned and restored for ex-hibition purposes and to form the nucleus ofour proposed aeronautical museum. These,

together with items of flying gear such ashelmets, goggles, flak jackets, uniforms, in-signia and including parts of aircraft such asinstruments, gun sights etc., all of which havebeen collected from various sources over theyears by members, will form an exhibition tobe staged in the Central Library at Norwichlater this year.

In addition to the above, it is also pro-posed to exhibit examples of art work foundon derelict former 8th Air Force airfields. Todate a large number have been discovered bymy brother Steve and these he has photo-graphed. I enclose a selection of prints takenfrom his color slides showing examples of art

work he discovered at the former 361stairfield at Bottisham, together with his de-tailed description of their location and com-position.

Another project in which the Society is atpresent involved is the recording of names ofall American airmen buried at the AmericanMilitary Cemetery at Cambridge. These names.together with those listed on the Wall of theMissing, will form a book to be produced in alimited quantity by the Society, a copy ofwhich is to be offered to Norwich CentralLibrary or the American Room.

There are many other projects at presentgoing on in the Society, not to mention myown investigation of factory assembly andpart numbers found on aircraft parts, which isintended to provide positive identification ofwrecks where no records of type or sub-typeare available.

In your letter to David Stoker, of the 17thMay, you mentioned that your Newslettermight be of assistance in our researches. Fromthe one or two copies I have been fortunateenough to see I would say that it would be avaluable source of information and such anoffer would be gratefully accepted.

I hope this letter has given you a little ideaof what we are doing and hope to do.

Thank you for showing your interest in us.Sincerely,Chris Gotts6 Gravelfield CloseValley Drive EstateNorwich, NOR 86P.Norfolk

DEEP SIX MINIATURESBox 134 Northboro Mass. 01532

17E1,45 ARE SHOWN ACTUAL sIzE

REUNION PHOTOS

384 members gather for Memorial Services on board the USS Battleship North Carolina. Photo by Zimmerman

Milt Veynar at Ladies fashion show. A staunch

supporter of men's liberation! Photo by

Denton.

The crowd begins to gather for the banquet.

Photo by Cobin.

Jean Hayes, Helene Denton, Russ Hayes and

Jackie Hanify. Photo by Denton.

Our President Bill Brooks about to pounce on

Helene Denton. Dottie Brooks and Jean Hayes

refuse to be disturbed. Photo by Denton.

Hazel and Bill Robertie. Photo by Henry - he

insisted!

At the Head Table. Jordan Uttal, Bill Robertie,

Tom Eaton and Joyce Uttal. Photo by Henry.

[L to RI Mary Lou Petty, Dorothy Norman,

Roxie Walsh and June Zimmerman. Photo by

Zimmerman.

[L to R] Earl and June Zimmerman, Sally and

Aaron Schultz. Photo by Zimmerman.

WE COM SE.CON110ITSeT0E11

IR)411Jat Xiic- L

tee"

NENEANVERY *RERTAL-Pit ' • r.

EPEE

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r.

The Snoopy Squadron of the 2nd AD. Sons and

daughters of members. Photo by Cobin.

Pete and Mary Henry 44th. (Henry's

Camera again)

Al Franklin of the 44th examining nose art

reproductions by Jim Auman. Photo by Henry.